Madrid’s passage through El Sadar left the dose of Vinicius’ fan these days, the player who never rests, not even when the referee signals rest. The Brazilian, who was the most whistled when the white team got off the bus an hour and a half before the game, has time for everything. Double, a card with double punishment, offensive chants against him… Another encounter that led to another small spread around his figure. Vinicius moment, who scored his eighteenth goal of the course, 12 this year and six in the last four games, already two behind the suspended Jude Bellingham. In the 85th minute, replaced by Arda Güler, Ancelotti hugged him for a long time with a smile and whispered a few words in his ear (which he later avoided revealing) while the pitcher gave him the final whistle.
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Herrera, Jorge Herrando (Juan Cruz, min. 79), Catena (Iker Muñoz, min. 69), Unai García, Lucas Torró, Mojica, Jon Moncayola, Moi Gómez (Raul García de Haro, min. 69), Jesús Areso, Ante Budimir (Pablo Ibáñez, min. 69) and Arnáiz (Rubén García, min. 69)
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Andriy Lunin, Dani Carvajal, Rüdiger, Ferland Mendy (Fran Garcia, min. 84), Aurelien Tchouameni, Kroos (Lucas Vázquez, min. 77), Federico Valverde, Camavinga (Nacho, min. 72), Brahim Diaz (Modric, min. . 72), Vinicius Junior (Arda Guler, min. 84) and Rodrygo
Goals 0-1 min. 3: Vinicius Junior. 1-1 min. 6: Before Budimir. 1-2 min. 17: Dani Carvajal. 1-3 min. 61: Brahim Diaz. 1-4 min. 64: Vinicius Junior. 2-4 min. 91: Iker Muñoz.
Referee Juan Martínez Munuera
Yellow cards Jorge Herrando (min. 31), Vinicius Junior (min. 43), Camavinga (min. 52), Lucas Torró (min. 54) and Unai García (min. 63)
“He is a decisive player. He chose and attacked very well without the ball. He is what he has improved the most in,” said Carlo Ancelotti, who now asks him to step more into the central corridors. “I try to play more inside to score more goals. The coach gives me that freedom,” commented the Brazilian. A new role that, as Jagoba Arrasate admitted, represents an extra complication for the opponents. “Now he doesn’t play so close to the wing and in those interior positions it is more difficult to defend. Today was a toothache, I’m not going to hide it,” analyzed a Jagoba Arrasate, very touched by the weakness of his team.
But Vini’s afternoon session also left the noise of everything else: the offense of the stands, and his friction with the opponents and the referee. Ancelotti, without elaborating much, did slip a message in this direction. “The pressure he has in the environment must be controlled a little more. In that facet, he can improve and he will. “He is a humble, serious and intelligent boy,” stated the Italian. His colleague Arrasate did not want to know anything about the matter and pointed at the cobblestone. “We are an honest and honest team, but today we have not been able to stop it. If there is noise around him, it is not because of the football people,” the local coach settled on an issue that runs parallel to his great football influence.
Vini’s centrifuge concentrated for an hour without respite. Everything went very fast. She stole it from the childish Catena at 0-1. Shortly after the tie, he failed in a one-on-one match against Sergio Herrera. The southern stands area, where the most radical red fans are located, sang in chorus “Vinicius die”. The referee gave him a yellow card after several protests (eighth of the year), he will miss the next match against Athletic and will not play for Madrid again until the Champions League first leg against City. The stands (this time the entire crowd) shouted “fool, fool.” As he walked to the locker room at halftime, he complained to a camera about the card, prompting Brahim to remove him from the spotlight. And in the celebration of 1-4, he faced the crowd again, although not as challenging as in Mestalla. Non-stop goals, chances, whistles and shouts against him. Pure agitation on a day when El Sadar did not stop showing his rejection of racism through public address messages and a t-shirt that the Osasuna players wore when they went out onto the field.
“Brave but fragile”
In the midst of the noise, no one took more advantage of an Osasunista defense that was butter in point of ointment. Jagoba Arrasate, who did not have David García due to injury (he was left off the national team list), had lined up with three centre-backs, but it was of no use to him with errors as minor as Catena’s at 0-1. At 1-2, Carvajal finished alone with the outside inside the area. The 1-3 and 1-4 finished opening up a defense that was naked. “We were brave, but fragile,” summarized a dejected Arrasate.
In the run-up, the two coaches had taken their defensive precautions. Also Ancelotti, who added all possible centimeters in the center of the defense to protect himself from the fourth team in the League that put the most centers into the area until this day: 21.5 on average per game and 16.2 only in play actions. He relegated Nacho (1.80), who is not going through his best days, and lowered Tchouameni (1.88) to join him with Rüdiger (1.90). As the Italian had dropped in recent weeks and no matter how much the Frenchman has shown his dissatisfaction with playing as a center back, the pivot was not only going to be in defense when there was no other option. The measure, however, did not help him avoid receiving the first goal of the championship from a corner. Carvajal, the shortest of the defense (1.73), made a poor clearance and unbalanced the shield. A tie that occurred after Vini’s 0-1 and before a missed one-on-one by Vini. These are the times of Vinicius.
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